Summary
Minecraftalready has a lot lined up for 1.21, with trial chambers and auto-crafters among the most exciting features announced. However, after a controversial year with a contentious update, a somewhat overlooked spinoff, and a highly debated mob vote, there are still more changes that ought to come toMinecraft.
ThoughMinecraftremains at the top of sandbox gaming in terms of success and popularity, one could argue that the game has started to stagnate. Newer updates don’t seem to hit the peaks of The Nether Update or Village and Pillage, with many features being addedlacking the depth of earlierMinecraftmechanics. The upcoming trial chambers and auto-crafter look to address these concerns and breathe new life into the game, but there’s still a great deal of work to be done.
What 1.21 Should Do For Minecraft
Add Depth To Existing Minecraft Mechanics
The big problem with recentMinecraftupdates is that they expand rather than deepen. Instead of adding to existing systems (such as combat, farming, redstone, etc.), new systems are introduced (like archeology, beekeeping and new mob drops with singular purposes) before being similarly abandoned. There are signs thatMojang is interested in updates to prior content, but much more is needed. New updates should always consider how what they introduce could be made versatile and how it could interact with the existing game. In addition, existing features should be updated to stay in-line with new content. Here are some examples of how this could work:
If all these fantastical things were discovered in real life, humans would adapt them into all manner of agricultural, military, infrastructure, and medicinal purposes. Not only would using new features to add depth to the old be good game design,it would enhanceMinecraft’s fascinating loreby improving verisimilitude and make the worldbuilding more internally coherent.
Old Minecraft Mobs Need New Tricks
Many mobs have been added to the game with underwhelming drops and/or mediocre mechanics. This isn’t an entirely new thing (just look at bats, one of the game’s older mobs) nor are new mobs all one-note (piglins, for instance, have incredibly complex behaviors). However, there’s an overall trend toward mobs that don’t do much — including with pandas, polar bears, glow squids, and so on. Mojang has partially moved away from items being obtained by slaughtering passive mobs, but there are many ways players could have passive interactions where they still have something to gain.Minecraftcould add a quest systemfor this purpose, or could have some more direct solutions:
Minecraft Still Needs a New Combat Update
On top of this,Minecraftplayers desperately want a combat update. Not only is the current combat system lacking depth, it’s different dependent on which version is played. Mojang needs to pick whether it wants Bedrock, Java, or an entirely new combat system. It then needs to give that system suitable depth with new weapons and unique mechanics.
